


Hiding From It

by PinkCripps



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Good Severus Snape, Hurt/Comfort, In Character, One Shot, POV Hermione Granger, Past Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Post-War, Severus Snape Lives, and hermione is still a prideful gryffindor swot, beginning of relationship, dont worry snape is still his wonderful awful self
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2020-02-27 07:18:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18734260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PinkCripps/pseuds/PinkCripps
Summary: Hermione, suddenly under a crushing need to hide from it all, makes an escapade to a muggle bar. But she didn’t expect finding a kindred soul there.He narrowed his eyes. “Then it follows there is something you are hiding from.”She looked away. Defensively, she deflected, “Me, hiding? What about you?”





	Hiding From It

She knew the bags under her eyes made her look much older than she actually was, so she just went with the look.

On the way to the door, she glanced at herself in the mirror. Reflected back was unnaturally straightened hair, excessive eye makeup, and an indecent black dress. She hated the look because she thought it made her look like a slut.

She also couldn’t recognize herself. Good.

As she grabbed her car keys, the brightly colored “Orlando” of a muggle souvenir on her key chain caught her eyes, and she felt a stab of pain. (he’s never even been to the states, how did he get this, he’s lovely—) Hermione shook her head, as if to shake thoughts of Ron out of it.

She really needed to not be Hermione bleeding Granger for a few hours.

* * *

The bar smelled like cigarettes and sweat, and Hermione would have been disgusted if she weren’t trying so hard to not be herself. Apparently, not being you was more difficult than you’d think. Damn, she was giving herself a headache just trying to think about it.

She impulsively bought another drink to spite herself and looked around for more impulsive, un-Hermione-like things to do.

Her eyes landed on a man leaning on a wall, looking off to the side. He bore a black dress shirt, stylishly cropped black hair, and almost-familiar black eyes. The darkness was in contrast with his pale face, and she studied...ack, no, she was not supposed to be studying! Berating herself, Hermione cleared her head. That’s when she finally realized the man was now staring straight at her.

She froze for a moment, and then started walking over.

_What am I doing? WHAT AM I DOING? Stop walking, damn it. Oh, but stopping now would be awkward. Why would I think walking up to a complete stranger and then...wait, I don’t even know what I’ll do when I get to him! Okay, okay, deep breaths, Hermione. Stop panicking and focus! Now that you’re finally done wallowing in misery, you do need to look for possible relationships. Meet new people, yeah? Just talk to him, you pathetic loner. There’s nothing to it, so calm down._

Hermione felt much better after her self-administered pep talk. Upon reaching the man, she intended to introduce herself, but he spoke first.

“What do you want?”

“Er, I...

“No, don’t answer that. I already know what you want, you harlot, if the way you ogled me across the room means anything.”

Hermione blinked, taken back by the man’s instant rudeness, but quickly found her indignation. “Ogled? Ogled! I was not—and how _dare_ you assume that of me!”

The man infuriatingly raised an eyebrow and responded, “What is it I’m supposed to assume of you, then?”

“That maybe I wanted to introduce myself? Or pursue a relationship? That I don’t bloody use people like that?” she spat.

At the last few words of her rant, he seemed to chide himself, and his eyes lost their hostile look. “The women here are usually brainless whores,” he said by way of apology.

Still a bit miffed, she ignored her resolve to not be Hermione and quipped, “Well, I happen to have a pretty sizable intellect.”

“Under all that despicable eye shadow?”

“Oh, I hate it too, I can assure you.”

Then the man slid closer, and Hermione was proud to be only a bit dazed when he whispered “Well, I appear to have gotten lucky: someone who wants sex and isn’t a dunderhead.”

And then she leaned forward and kissed him. Not missing a beat, the man started to move his lips against hers. When she realized she was kissing a man whose name she didn’t even know, Hermione felt slightly ashamed. But his tongue swiped her bottom lip and then the only thing she could focus on was how she suddenly felt weak in the knees. The man moved his hands to her waist and slid a leg between hers to support her. She responded by pulling him closer and moaning into his mouth. When their noses bumped, she slightly opened her eyes and noticed a few silver hairs on the side of his head. So he was older than Hermione initially thought? Hmm... As if his sensing her stare, the man’s eyelids fluttered open as well, and—

Abruptly, Hermione realized why his eyes had seemed familiar.

She sprung back from his lips in alarm, wanting to turn away and lose herself in the crowd. She had been kissing—! But her logic soon caught up with her. It was impossible for the person in front of her to be _him_ ; that man was dead. She felt stupid after reassessing her revelation. Unfortunately, the damage was already done; confusion and hurt filled those eyes.

But then his back stiffened.

“Hermione Granger?” he breathed.

Silence.

“...Severus Snape?”

There was a slight nod of confirmation, and Hermione felt an inordinate amount of disbelief, confusion, and fear for such a small action. While she was still reeling, he attempted to bridge the deafening silence, although the bar was still as noisy as ever.

“If I knew...you are...excuse me, Miss Granger, I didn’t rec—“

Still trying to comprehend what was happening, she didn’t think before blurting, “Yeah, that was kinda the point.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Then it follows there is something you are hiding from.”

She looked away. Defensively, she deflected, “Me, hiding? What about you?”

The years after the war had been good to Professor Snape—Snape?—Severus. The previously prominent worry lines on his face had becomd almost nonexistent, making him look eons younger. He looked much better than Hermione initially thought he would look like (which was dead). Now that the disbelief had faded, she was left with a multitude of questions. How had he lived? How had he spent his time? Unlike herself, he seemed to have been living a relaxed life. But where had he gone? Why had he disappeared from the wizarding world?

“One would think ‘the brightest witch of your age,’ could infer the reasons of my relocation,” he stated quietly. It seemed that he, too, did not want to talk about his hiding.

They stood there at an impasse for a moment. Neither of them felt comfortable talking about why they were here, and Hermione was unsure of what one was supposed to do after snogging a dead hero who was also your former teacher at a seedy bar.

“Maybe we can, er, sit down and get a drink,” she suggested at the same time Severus said, “Goodbye, Miss Granger.”

“Wait!” she exclaimed. “You couldn’t possibly expect me to snog a supposedly-dead man and then simply leave and forget about it.” In a lower voice, she muttered “And I’m not a schoolgirl anymore; you don’t have to call me Miss Granger.

“Well, _Miss Granger_ , I do expect you simply leave and forget about it. I have no desire to be interrogated by you.”

It may have improved his health, but peacetime definitely hadn’t improved his acidic personality. However, Hermione found herself somewhat amused instead of offended. She could tell he was just trying to cover how uncomfortable he was. “Oh, I’ll limit myself, then, _Severus_ ,” she replied casually. “Three questions for each of us, how does that sound? I know you have to be curious too.” Not waiting for an answer, she took his elbow and dragged him to the nearest table.

“Merlin save me. Fine, I will agree to your little question game if it will stop you from pestering me.” He sounded annoyed, but there was a notable lack of resistance on his part.

Hoping it would loosen his tongue, she bought a drink for them both before jumping into her questions.

“So, what did you do after the war?”

“That is a very broad question,” he noted slyly.

“How did you survive Nagini’s bite?” she promptly amended. The last thing she wanted was to receive some smart-mouth, overly general answer.

“After Arthur Weasley was attacked, I grew...concerned about the threat Nagini posed. I kept some of the leftover anti-venom and made sure it was on my person at all times.”

“Wow, paranoid,” Hermione mused to herself.

“It’s what kept me alive, Miss Granger,” Severus replied, much to her embarrassment. She didn’t think he’d hear that. He continued, “As soon as you left me for dead in the Shrieking Shack,” (she blushed here) “I used a portkey to a safe house in muggle London as soon as you left. I tended to my wounds, hoped I would be presumed dead, and haven’t come back since.”

“But why would you stay away?” Hermione regretted the question as soon as she said it because of the obvious answer.

“I assumed the Ministry would try to imprison a Death Eater and Dumbledore’s murderer in Azkaban,” Severus satirized.

Well, at least the question gave her the chance to inform him. “You’re not either of those things. You were cleared of your charges; we made sure that your role in the war was known.”

”My private life is being spread around? Oh, now I’m glad I was not there.”

Hermione chose gracefully to ignore this comment, and continued, “Severus, the wizarding world regards you a hero, not a felon.”

A unreadable expression appeared on his face. “And I consider that infinitely worse.”

Hermione said nothing to that because she could almost relate.

“Well, if you want to forfeit your last question, I will gladly start mine.” Severus said.

“Oh! No, uh...” He said he hadn’t been in the wizarding world since his faked death. Does that mean... “How much do know of the situation in the wizarding world after your, er, incident?”

He sneered at the euphemism, but answered, “as Great Britain isn’t currently being terrorized by the Dark Lord, I assumed we won the war. And my Dark Mark has completely faded.” The last sentence was said in a softer voice, but it promptly returned to normal: “other than that, I know nothing.”

“Nothing?” Hermione said disbelievingly. “So you don’t—“

“Ah, not so fast, Miss Granger,” Severus interrupted. “You have reached your three-question limit. Are you really so willing to break your word for the sake of being an insufferable know-it-all?”

She hated that she was blushing, and she hated that Snape was smirking at her.

“Jeez, go on then. Say your questions.”

He didn’t hesitate before asking, “Who has died?”

Hermione knew it was inevitable he would ask this question. Knowing didn’t make it any easier to answer, though. She took a deep breath before reciting the names: “Voldemort, Bellatrix Lestrange, Fenir Greyback...” As the list went on and the names became more personal, Hermione found it harder to keep her voice steady. A choked sob interrupted her before she could say the last name.

However, Severus ended the list for her. “You don’t need to say it. I know Harry Potter is dead,” he said in a quiet voice.

Harry? She was going to say Fred. He thought Harry was dead?

“Harry is still alive,” she said slowly.

He jerked in his seat. “Impossible,” he whispered disbelievingly. Then, louder, “He cannot be alive. If he is alive, then...the Dark Lord is not truly dead.” Quickly growing angry, he growled, “Did the brat not tell you what he was? Stupid, selfish, little—“

“Severus, calm down,” Hermione hissed. The other patrons at the bar were starting to stare at them.

Remembering they were not alone, he lowered his voice to a hiss as well. “Miss Granger,” he said intensely, “the boy is a horcrux, the last one of the Dark Lord’s. He must die if—“

“Severus!” Hermione interrupted once more. “Harry did tell us he was a horcrux, and he did die.”

Severus opened his mouth, then closed it. He opened his mouth again, then sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “He died...but he came back to life.”

“Mm-hm”

He stared at the table. “Typical Potter luck,” he said in an annoyed voice, but even with his head down she could see the slight smile on his face. “And here I was thinking he was dead the whole time...”

He looked back up at her, and though he was not smiling anymore, Hermione was taken aback by the twinkles in his eyes. “You mentioned earlier that I was considered a hero,” he said. “Do elaborate.”

“Oh! Uh, you er...” Hermione cursed her awkwardness and started again. “I may have exaggerated a bit, sir,” she said. “Many people do consider you a hero; in fact, I’d say the majority of people do. But there are some people who, er, don’t.”

He didn’t even say anything. Professor Snape just gave her that look, the unnerving one that made you feel compelled to babble.

“Some people believe you were—are a nasty death eater who just wanted to be on the winning side, whichever side that was. I don’t think that though,” she quickly added.

He raised an eyebrow, but simply murmured, “Go on.”

Now this was the awkward part. “Yes, well, others say, when they heard you did everything for Lily...” she checked his face, but his expression betrayed nothing. “They claim you were obsessed with her, and I somewhat agree.”

Hermione looked at him as boldly as she could, challenge in her gaze.

He regarded her steadily. “Miss Granger,” he said, “I mistakenly had almost begun to think better of you, but it appears you too are one of the many typically over-privileged children who feel entitled to poke their nose in business that isn’t theirs.”

“Hey!” she exclaimed, standing up. Hermione knew intellectually that she had probably gone too far with the topic, but she couldn’t back down now. “That’s not fair! I was just...”

“Oh? I believe you would feel differently if I asked you what exactly happened with you and Weasley. And I _am_ entitled to this question, mind you.”

Hermione mentally groaned and sat back down. This is what she got for playing with fire. “Ron and I...we just broke up is all. Decided we weren’t right for each other, and parted ways.”

“Hm, I might have actually accepted that answer if I didn’t know you were lying through your teeth,” he said.

“I’m not lying.”

“A lie by omission is still a lie.”

She dropped her head to her hands and whispered, “Okay, I admit I went too far with Lily. Now can we please let go of me and Ron? I don’t want to talk about it.”

Hermione listened to the background noise of the bar, the glass clinks, the laughter, the cheering for the game playing on the TV. When Severus spoke again, although his voice was soft, it was as if he were the loudest thing in the bar.

“You will always love him.” She looked back at him. “But you will not always be in love with him.”

They gazed at each other for a minute, an hour. She understood.

“Well, I seem to have lowered myself to snogging strangers at bars. I have an excuse, post-breakup activity. What’s yours?” Hermione teased, breaking the strange tension between them.

“I’ve been trying to be less paranoid. Relaxing was a luxury I didn’t have the first forty years of my life,” he replied wryly.

“Oh, but you didn’t even bother disguising yourself.”

Severus’s mood suddenly shifted. Sounding strangely as if he were admitting something, he said, “Perhaps some part of me wanted to be found.”

At that statement, Hermione looked at him, considering. Then she stood up and held her hand out.

“Let’s get out of here,” she said.

After a moment’s hesitation, he took her hand and stood up as well.

“Where are you going?” Severus asked as they walked outside.

“Anywhere,” she replied. “Just, no more hiding.”

He stopped them and turned her around to face him. He looked at her with those eyes, dark as the night around them.

“I agree, Hermione.”

And, still holding hands, he apparated them away.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, this is my first fanfic! Any kind of response—criticism, praise, kudos—is greatly appreciated. =) 
> 
> Have a cool and awesome day if you’re reading this B)


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